Heirloom Christmas Tree Crate

When does an antique heirloom become no longer an heirloom, but a curbside find? I think anything found by a curbside or any antique bound for the curbside should be re-imagined to become a new heirloom. That way it can pass down once again from generation to generation. I think my new Christmas Tree Crate has become just that. A new heirloom for my family.

I had 3 antique table extensions that were left behind and bound for the curbside pile and give them a new life!! Some people probably wouldn’t like that I took pieces of an antique table and cut and ripped them (but the table had already been picked up by a charity and the 3 extensions were inadvertently left behind). Hopefully, some people will see that I gave them a new life as an heirloom Christmas tree crate.

The three table leaves were very old. You have to know that they would have some imperfections that just showed that it was a table loved and used. I thought they made my tree crate even better. You can see below some of the blemishes that had occurred over the years.

The two extensions were cut into the following size pieces: 2 at 18″ and 2 at 16.5″ There were also some stress fractures to the wood so I tried to cut accordingly to make the boards I would utilize as strong as possible. Even this one piece of the board below will be saved and become something great in the future. I also didn’t try to hide the previous dowel holes that you see on a table extension. I just embraced all the uniqueness of the pieces.

I was limited in my design by trying to keep to only the 3 table extensions so I ripped the 3rd one into trim pieces. Now granted I could have used my router and made the trim more decorative, but I also love a clean basic design.

Make your design just big enough to cover your tree stand. I still needed room under the tree for all the presents Santa would bring so I didn’t want to make it any bigger than it really needed to be. My tree stand was 16″ wide so the interior of my tree crate is 16.5″ wide.

I typically use Minwax stain. I have easy access to a Home Depot. I actually have easy access to two Home Depots. For this project, I used the Early American color of the stain. I had purchased it when I added it to the base of my antique pedestal table to make it taller for the members of my family that have some height (of course, I am not talking about myself). This stain really matched the original dining room table stain of my late 1800’s round pedestal table.

Originally I was making for Alex’s room here, but once it was completed and because it matched my antique oak table in for formals, I used it in my formal dining/living combination. It looked so good in my formals! See below for the pictures will my Christmas tree.

I was so inspired by how this beauty turned out and how well it finished off the look of my tree that I was inspired to make several others. This may just be something I choose to make for family friends Christmas 2022. Do you think I did justice to the antique table extensions? And should I try to find more at flea markets to give them new life as heirloom Christmas tree crates?

Here is another tree crate I made from leftover baseboards:

Leftover Baseboards Become a Tree Crate